Saturday May 5, 2012, the second day of No Brand Con XI, boasted even more panels than the first.  The schedule began at 9 a.m. and ended with a dance that ran from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday morning.  In the world of panels, the final event was Late Night with Chris Cason and Quinton Flynn.  There were also gaming and anime screenings running all day and night.

Panels were hosted by the guests and covered a wide variety of topics ranging from Voice Acting to The History of Sharp, Shiny, Pointy Things.  The Voice actors Chris Cason, Quinton Flynn, and Kyle Hebert gave several panels offering a behind the scenes look at voice acting.  Questions were encouraged, and all aspects of working in anime were covered.

Late Night with Chris Cason and Quinton Flynn was for the 18+ crowd and was open to everything – it ended up a little X-rated.  Nothing was off-limits in this panel, and most of it remained in the realm of all things racy.  Right from the beginning with Quinton Flynn’s story about his Yaoi song, the stage was set.  The topic cue was taken from there, and it never left.  Audience participation was more than encouraged.

Samurai Dan and his wife, Jillian, gave a history of Japanese swords in the panel, The History of Sharp, Shiny, Pointy Things.  This panel was full of history as well as humor.  They also gave classes in Samurai sword fighting.  Some classes used foam swords, while others used the real thing.  In his demonstrations, Samurai Dan used a 700-year-old katana, and the audience could look, but not touch.  Jillian’s sword was 300 years old.  Samurai Dan also offered a panel on the history of ninja weapons on Sunday.

For the gamers, there were three gaming rooms.  One room was for tabletop gaming.  This room was for the fans of games like Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.  Next to the tabletop room were the video game rooms.  The main room had rows of tables with every current console available.

Connected to the main video game room was a smaller room labeled Classic Gaming.  This room housed the older consoles, such as the original Nintendo.  Here, the tables were set up along the walls and went around the entire small room with a table in the middle holding two consoles.  These rooms were always full.

Two rooms were set aside to screen anime all day and most of the night.  All anime screened in these two rooms were appropriate for ages 13 and up.  There was also the No Mercy Room.  This room was dedicated to more adult anime, movies, and discussions.  ID was required as it was limited to the 18+ crowd.

Whether a gamer, anime fan, or panel participant, there was something for everyone at No Brand Con XI.

Image Courtesy of    No Brand Con

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About the author

Amanda Brandt
Amanda Brandt is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a B.S. in English Creative Writing with a Professional Writing minor.

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